Meeting with Inspection Commission of the International Exhibitions Bureau

Vladimir Putin met with members
of the Inspection Commission of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE).

April 5, 2018

18:10

The Kremlin, Moscow

The commission is in Russia to consider
Yekaterinburg’s readiness to host World Expo 2025.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to Moscow.

I know that you have a busy agenda.
You have visited Yekaterinburg, the city that is bidding to host World Expo.

You probably already know everything
I am about to say, but I wish to emphasise it. Russia has been taking part in these exhibitions for a long time. We participated in the first exhibition in the 19th century, and last year, in 2017, we were partners of the Expo 2017 business agenda in Astana.

We regularly take part in such
events held at various venues, but Russia has not hosted an event this large yet.
You have seen for yourselves that Yekaterinburg is a large Russian industrial
centre where most leading industrial companies are represented and have
headquarters. There are many joint enterprises; I think almost 400 international
enterprises involving foreign capital.

We believe that an additional 500
hectares will be allocated for the exhibition if it takes place in Russia. I believe you have seen the location: it is conveniently located between the city
centre and the airport. If this happens, we are planning to welcome people from
at least 140 countries. This is approximately 14 million people, or 10 times
more than the population of the city and its suburbs, which is about 1.4
million with the adjoining areas.

The construction of the facilities
will cost about 1.5 billion euros. The funds will be allocated from the federal
and regional budgets. We are planning to balance these expenses with the activities of the exhibition venue and partly by attracting private companies
that are interested in this.

You have probably been told that we are
planning to launch a campaign to improve the urban environment. This includes
transport infrastructure, city development, metro and monorail upgrades and expansion and the park zone. Of course, all of this will benefit the region’s
development. And the region, as I said, is well developed in terms of industry.

I would like to point out another
fact. We propose an agenda for people from developing economies in this
exhibition. In addition, we are ready to pay a large part of the expenses that their
participation would involve.

In this case, I believe
Yekaterinburg’s exact location between Europe and Asia is important. As you
have noticed, it is situated almost in the centre of Russia’s huge territory in the Urals.

I think this is an advantage: the travel
time to get there from various parts of the world is almost the same.

This is what I wanted to say. I would like to welcome you once again and hear your opinions about what you have
seen and your impressions after visiting Yekaterinburg.

First of all, I wish to express our deep condolences to the victims and their families of the tragic
Kemerovo fire incident. Our thoughts are with you and your people.

Having said this, I take
this opportunity to report to you that the Enquiry Mission has successfully
accomplished its mandate given by the BIE.

Since our arrival here last
Monday we have had a series of working sessions with your team, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. And everything is excellently arranged
and well prepared. So, our preliminary finding is very positive.

First, the project proposed
by Russia is viable and feasible, with the strong support of the federal
government.

The second point is that the theme proposed by Russia has strong relevance for the global agenda. Also it is
very appealing to the international community.

And third point, we met with
representatives of various groups. This morning, we had a meeting with
political leaders of the State Duma as well as the Council of Federation. Also
we were well received by your Prime Minister, and we confirmed strong political
support and assurance for this project.

At the same time, in Yekaterinburg we met with representatives of civil society organisations. It is
very impressive to witness their active participation and strong support for the success of this project.

So everything is very much encouraging
to us. Also we got to know that Russia has a wonderful strong track record of successfully hosting global events such as the Olympics, and also the G20
summit and APEC summit.

Russia has successfully
participated in the International Expo. In some cases the Russian pavilion has
been elected one of the best pavilions. So in this case we believe Russia has
the capacity and the capability to successfully host the 2025 World Expo.

So, our preliminary finding
will be submitted to the BIE Executive Committee meeting scheduled for early
May. If the Executive Committee approves our report, then this report will be
submitted to the General Assembly for further consideration. And the final vote
to select the host country will be decided in November at the General Assembly,
Your Excellency.

That is the summary I wish to report to you at this stage.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Jai-chul Choi, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to add something else.
We have a lot of expertise in holding international events of this scale. We
have almost completed our preparations for the FIFA World Cup. At the beginning, when we started this work, we adopted a federal law structuring all
the work to prepare for the World Cup.

If Yekaterinburg’s bid wins, we are ready to adopt
a similar federal law, which we will draft in cooperation with the organisers
in order for this work to be structured and systematised.